The benefits of creating and maintaining an organized closet are numerous. A structured closet saves you tons of time, eliminates undue stress, stops you from wasting money, and ultimately contributes to you feeling and looking your best. With an organized closet, you’ll no longer have to waste time searching under the bed or through a bin for the matching shoe to your favorite pair.
When you’re running late to an important appointment and suddenly realize the sweater that you planned to wear is not where you thought it was, your stress level instantly surges. Ever purchase an expensive top only to discover months later you have one almost exactly like it hanging under a jacket in your closet? How many times have you left the house not wearing what you really wanted to wear because you couldn’t find all the items in your closet?
We’ve put together our seven rules to create and sustain an organized closet to help bring some sanity back into one of your most used spaces.
#1 One hanger, one item.
Yes, it’s tempting to hang a blouse over a short-sleeved-shirt and then add a suit jacket over the blouse, but placing three items on one hanger will only induce stress when you are trying to find that little shirt weeks later. Give every piece of clothing in your closet its own hanger so you’ll never lose the location of a garment again!
#2 Everything in its place, and a place for everything.
While it sounds simple, this rule requires mindfulness. From installing double hooks for your purses or robes to installing a scarf rack to hold all of the beautiful ones you’ve purchased during your travels, every piece of clothing and accessory needs to have a very specific place in your closet. Simply hanging your belt over the head of a hanger that holds a jacket is not enough; the belt has to go back to the belt rack you’ve added to your closet. A week later when you want to sport that belt again, it will be exactly where you know it should be and you won’t waste one second having to look through your closet for that hanger you thought you added it to. The key to the success of this rule is to take the time – ahead of time – to return items to their specific locations as you take them off.
#3 Be color coordinated.
Nothing makes finding that favorite white T-shirt easier than zooming in on the section of your closet where you have all your white tops hanging. Though you still want to keep pants together, skirts to one area, and tops elsewhere – you want to organize each of those items according to their colors.
#4 Keep frequently used items easily accessible.
As much as you love that pretty party dress you wore on New Year’s Eve and as cool as your new bathing suit is, neither of those items need to be front-and-center in your closet. Don’t waste time rifling through clothing every day that you won’t be wearing on a regular basis for the next few months. Place non-seasonal items out of convenient reach until it’s time to wear them again.
#5 Out of sight, out of mind…
…so keep everything in sight! While stashing your smaller handbags inside your bigger totes may seem like a great way to save space, you’ll soon forget about those cute clutches and either go out and buy another one, or never use the ones you already own.
#6 Use closet shelf dividers.
Installing mini shelves in the middle of your closet will enable you to fold and stack lots of items that would normally take up a lot of space if they were on hangers. Just like at your favorite retail shop, your sweaters, long-sleeved shirts, and golf shirts can be neatly folded and stacked. In this instance, however, you’ll want to organize them according to whether they are sweaters, long-sleeved shirts, or polo shirts vs. separating them by their colors. Your green sweater should be stacked with your sweaters and not with your green polos.
#7 At the end of a season clean out unused closet clothing.
If winter is about to make way for spring and you’ve discovered that there are a handful of clothing items you didn’t touch all winter, consider giving them to a friend or relative, donating them to an organization, or selling them online.
An organized closet brings serenity back into your life. It completely eliminates all of the unnecessary and negative feelings of anxiousness, panic, and stress that a disorganized closet fosters.
